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from the Jensen Family – currently in sweden :-)

Mobile Clients – and the impact on a Business User.

Having been a client of mobile computing for several years, I think I have seen most of the solution available and been the target of several misplaced offerings and offerings of the next revolution.
I have (although) kept my enthusiasm about these products, and would like to share with you – the pros and cons of several products I have found worth the money spent.
I would encourage all of you to place your favourites in the comments area – just because I have tried quite a few, doesn’t mean that I have tried it all – and I have surely missed a few on my list.

First off all – I have not only done my focus on gadgets, I would also like to remind you of services that have made an impact – something that did make the everlasting impression at an early stage – as well something that have long gone, and have been forgotten.

Visto Corporation – “Once upon a time” – is how all fairytales start – and so did VISTO. The first thing I remember about this service was a Web Based Calendar, Contact and File sharing environment – that did replicate my Outlook Calendar and Information – as well as files and (not sure) – my bookmarks to a Mobile Web Based office environment.
This tool was available in the mid 199x’s and was the first time we did utilise such a service online.

Today – almost any Contact Management Solution (Dear I say CRM/SFA tool have this features), but these days it surely did make an impression.

Nokia Communicator; A divine “Pocket Brick” I did experience during my year as a Project Manager @Nokia in Copenhagen. We were all impressed and amazed about this huge and advanced PHONE, SMS, FAX and EMAIL and Office Replacement Unit. It had the opportunity of having spreadsheet and word-processing on its QWERTY keyboard and gave the business traveller a tool of tremendous value.
Even today, the latest version of the Communicator still stands it ground – although my latest Nokia N70 does not lack any of the features found on the Communicator.

Bluetooth Connectivity; well today an establish standard that glues the mobile units together – something that many times have been doomed extinct (even before it became a standard) – today I use it to tie together both phones, networks, headsets, camera and printers – all without strings and only with a simple USB Bluetooth device out of my laptop (Bluetooth was not on available on my laptop model once it was handed out to me.).

The Laptop – Currently a Dell user; but I have surely been around quite a few. Starting on one of the laptops early models (Chinock; moving onto IBM, HP, Compaq’s, ASUS and finally Dell models – I haven’t found an absolute favourite), but surely have found what is valuable for me – when defining the dream laptop. My key features would be:

• Resolution higher than 1024 (Everything else is a waste of money).
• Battery lifetime – measured on a single battery.

I have had laptops with more than 3 hours of work time – It’s a show-off, but rarely something that I find worth carry around – since the processor surely have the lack of performance as well as a system running on save mode every 5 minutes (and thereby taking forever to wake up again).

I might have forgotten not to mention a few additional impressions made – the simple but highly efficient usage of IMAP Services (letting you store your emails on a server, and still keep a copy on a laptop while on the road).
A Present from a Friend (Tungsten W) – a highly efficient PDA and Phone in one unit – and in my opinion still miles ahead of the Windows Mobile solutions offered.Affordable Web hosting – early days we started out with 10mb data on our web host services, and a limited 2 mb email box (thank you hotmail) – moving on for today – having Powweb offering me 12GB online, and Google Gmail providing me with a 2 GB mailbox for free.

Times have surely changed – tell me about the things that rocked your world.